Download Ride With the Devil: An Ang Lee film

A Ride With the Devil
Ride With the Devil: An Ang Lee film
Plot Summary
Jake Roedel and Jack Bull Chiles are friends in Missouri when the Civil War starts. Women and
Blacks know their place. Jack Bull's dad is killed by Union soldiers, so the young men join the
Bushwhackers, irregulars loyal to the South. One is a Black man, Daniel Holt, beholden to George, the
man who bought his freedom. They skirmish then spend long hours hiding. Sue Lee, a young widow,
brings them food and becomes romantically involved with one of them. At 19, Jake is ill at ease with
war. As his friends die one after another, Jake must ultimately decide where his true honor lies.
Characters:
Jake Roedel- Tobey Maguire
Jack Bull Chiles- Skeet Ulrich
Daniel Holt – Jeffrey Wright
Sue Lee Shelley – Jewel
George Clyde- Simon Baker
Black John--James Caviezel
Pitt Mackeson - Jonathan Rhys Myers
Historical Background Information:
JayHawkers: Jayhawkers were the northern equivalent of the Missouri border ruffians, organized in
response to the latter group’s pre-war attacks on Lawrence Kansas. Made up largely of staunchly
Unionist German volunteers, these unofficial Union mercenary forces raided the secessionist regions
of the state, further escalating the bloody guerrila war in the region.
Border Ruffians: In the decade leading up to the American Civil War, pro-slavery activists infiltrated
Kansas Territory from the neighboring slave state of Missouri. To abolitionists and other Free-Staters,
who desired Kansas to be admitted to the Union as a free state, they were collectively known as
Border Ruffians. Notably, few of the Border Ruffians actually owned slaves; most were too poor.
What motivated them was hatred of the Yankees and abolitionists and the prospect of free blacks
living in neighboring areas. With the commencement of hostilities the pre-war group enlisted many
additional volunteers and began an even more intense, and better organized guerilla war against the
free-staters.
William Clarke Quantrill: (July 31, 1837 – June 6, 1865), was a pro-Confederate guerrilla leader in
Missouri during the American Civil War. An Ohio schoolteacher who relocated to Kansas, Quantrill
transformed a motley group of Southern-sympathizing farmers and townsmen living behind Union
lines into one of the Confederacy's most effective and eclectic guerrilla units. His actions, particularly
a bloody raid he organized and led on Lawrence, Kansas, remain controversial to this day.
Quantrill’s Raiders: Quantrill's Raiders were a group of Confederate bushwhackers who followed
and fought under William Clarke Quantrill. The name "Quantrill's Raiders" seems to have been
attached to the group long after the war; indeed, the members would later have reunions under that
name. During the war, however, the name rarely, if ever, appeared (hardly a surprise given the
chaotic nature of guerrilla warfare).
Jesse James: In 1863, at the age of sixteen, Jesse joined his brother Frank in Quantrill's Raiders.
Quantrill's Raiders was an irregular guerrilla group of the Civil War that terrorized anti-slavery and
pro-Union families and farms in Missouri, most notably in the 1863 massacre of 150 unarmed people
in Lawrence, Kansas.
Missouri in the Civil War:
Missouri was a keystone in the Union cause. The nation's major western lines of communication and
travel were anchored in the state the Pony Express and the California, Oregon and Santa Fe Trails.
The three major waterways of the country, the Missouri, Mississippi, and Ohio rivers, either passed
through or touched the state.
A Ride With the Devil
Name: ______________________________________
Date: _____________
1. How do the later events on the evening of the wedding help set the mood for the rest of the movie?
2. What is Roedell’s dilemma in the movie and how does it influence his relations with the other men?
3. Why is the movie named “Ride with the Devil?” What deeper significance does this title carry for
both Holt and Roedell (Maguire)? Who is the titular “Devil?”
4. Holt claims that he never wanted to be “no-body's n------ ever again.” Why is he fighting for the
South? Is this believable for an audience member? How does Holt’s participation complicate how his
group of Bushwackers live and fight during the war?
5. Based on the movie, what role did women play in the Civil War?
6. What are the “rules of war” in the Civil War? Discuss the treatment of women, POWs, civilians,
etc.
7. Compare and contrast the southern bushwacking war with the Jaywalkers with the war the South
was fighting back in Virginia.
8. Roedell (Maguire) starts the war with his friend Jack Bull Chiles and ends it with Holt and Sue Lee
Shelly. What does this social evolution suggest about the southern fortunes of war? What does it
suggest about Roedell’s character?
9. Some historians believe the bloody guerrilla war in Missouri/Kansas (esp. Quantrill’s Raiders)
produced the outlaws and moral ambiguities of the post-war Wild West. Either Support or disprove
this statement with examples from the movie.